1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to apparatus and methods for feeding jackets of printed matter into inserting machines and the related feeding of inserts into the jackets to form finished products which are compensated and stacked to form bundles. In an illustrated embodiment, the invention relates to the feeding of inserts into newspaper jackets produced on a rotary printing press.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In the assembly of printed matter for distribution, it is often desirable to insert one type of printed matter within another to form the finished product. In particular, it is desirable to have an efficient means for feeding inserts into jackets, for example, feeding advertisements or so-called Sunday supplements, into a newspaper jacket.
As is well-known in the art, the printed web on a rotary printing press moves to a folding cylinder where it is cut, folded and then deposited by a flyer drum on a conveyor belt. The conveyor belt carries the complete product in a single stream of overlapped or shingled jackets. According to present practice, this stream is conveyed away from the press and then stacked into bundles either by hand or by a machine known as a stacker.
In instances where an insert is not desired, the stack or bundle is simply delivered to the loading dock. However, where it is desired to feed inserts into the newspapers jackets, the jackets must be taken out of the bundled state and "individualized" at a jacket feeding station on an inserting machine.
There are two distinct methods of operating inserting machines. In a first method, known as the "off-line" method, the stream of jackets coming off the press is transformed by hand or machine into a stack in one work area. The bundles are then transferred, usually by hand, to a second area where they are placed on a part of the inserting machine known as the jacket feeding station. This jacket feeding station individualizes jackets so that they may be opened, inserted, closed and delivered by the inserting machine which, according to prior art practices, produces a continuous shingled stream of inserted newspapers which must be again stacked and then compensated before being sent to the loading dock.
In this off-line method, the printing and inserting operations are not coordinated; furthermore, two stacking operations are required, a great deal of labor is used to manually transfer bundles from one work area to a second one and the inserting machine must be equipped with a jacket feeding mechanism whose sole purpose is to "unstack" or "individualize" the bottom jacket in the stack.
Despite its many disadvantages, the off-line system is the only system within the price range of many small and medium size newspapers.
The past decade has seen the advent of "on-line" systems wherein the printing operation is partially coordinated with the inserting operation. In the on-line system, the jackets are conveyed from the printing press to the inserter in the shingled manner and then formed into stacks at the jacket feeding station. The jacket feeding station takes the bottom jacket from the stack and "individualizes" this jacket so that it may be fed into the inserting machine where it is opened to receive an insert. Although the jackets from the press are conveyed directly to the inserting machine jacket feeder without previously unloading it from the conveyor as in the off-line technique, the printing and inserting operations are not synchronized on a one-for-one basis. Because of this lack of synchronization, the typical on-line system requires a number of mechanisms to correct for underspeed or overspeed conditions of press vs. inserter and overflow gates which receive the jackets when there is a shutdown or when the inserter cannot keep up with the press. Furthermore, the on-line inserters require complex detecting devices to activate or deactivate the jacket supply conveyors during conditions when there are either too many or not enough jackets available at the jacket feeder.
Thus, there is an acute need for a relatively simple and reliable apparatus and method for on-line feeding of jackets into inserting machines.